Quentin Pierre Chedel after Watteau,Harlequin jaloux, engraving, 1732.
Watteau’s Harlequin jaloux was engraved in reverse by Quentin Pierre Chedel. The print was announced for sale in the December 1732 issue of the Mercure.
Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold report that there was also an anonymous counterproof engraving.
PROVENANCE
Paris, collection of Gilles Marie Oppenord (1672-1742; architect and designer). His ownership is indicated on the Chedel print: “du cabinet de Mr Oppenor.”
Not cited in Oppenord's probate inventory of May 9, 1742 (Paris, Archives nationales MC/ET/IV/517).
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hédouin, “Watteau” (1845), cat. 66.
Hédouin, Mosaïque (1856), cat. 67.
Goncourt, L’Art au XVIIIème siècle (1860), 57.
Goncourt, Catalogue raisonné (1875), cat. 137.
Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold, Jean de Jullienne et les graveurs (1921-29), 1: 261; 2: 37, 95-96, 122, 131; 3: cat. 77.
Réau, “Watteau” (1928), cat. 66.
Adhémar, Watteau (1950), cat. 63.
Mathey, Watteau, peintures réapparues (1959), 67.
Macchia and Montagni, L’opera completa di Watteau (1968), cat. 83.
Ferré, Watteau (1972), cat. B 14.
Roland Michel, Watteau (1981), cat. 115.
Roland Michel, Watteau (1984), 34. 69, 177, 215, 299.
Washington, Paris, Berlin, Watteau 1684-1721 (1984), under cat. P 14.
RELATED DRAWINGS
Although the figures in Harlequin jaloux are similar to these in Les Jaloux and Pierrot content, none of them actually repeat the characters in those two pictures. One would presume that the actors in Harlequin jaloux were based on Watteau drawings from the model, yet no such studies have been located.
REMARKS
Gérard Scotin after Watteau, Les Jaloux, engraving, c.1729.
Watteau, Pierrot content, Madrid, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, oil on canvas, 35 x 31 cm.
Quentin Pierre Chedel after Watteau, Harlequin jaloux, engraving.
Watteau’s Harlequin jaloux is one of several early compositions grouped around Les jaloux and Pierrot content. These works share several of the same commedia dell’arte actors (sequenced differently), a guitar (held by one or another of the actors), and actors bursting forth from the bushes. But whereas Les Jaloux and Pierrot content are almost twins, Harlequin jaloux is a more distant relative.
In tracing the provenance of Harlequin jaloux, scholar have invariably cited a pair of pictures sold in 1783 and 1793. But while one is related compositionally to Harlequin jaloux, it is a slightly different variant; see Pierrot à la guitare.
When the artist submitted Les Jaloux to the Académie in 1712, he may have submitted additional pictures. Some scholars have proposed that paintings such as Pierrot content and La partie quarré were part of the group that Watteau submitted, but this is unlikely, especially because the works within this group show characteristics of having been painted at different times, with Les Jaloux being the first, then Pierrot content second, and Harlequin jaloux the last. Les Jaloux and Pierrot content have markedly planar compositions with all the principal characters arranged in a strict frieze across the canvas—a characteristic of Watteau’s very early career—whereas Harlequin jaloux has a more three-dimensional arrangement, with Pierrot closer to the foreground, and the Mezzetin and actress placed behind him. The are other indications of an evolving chronology. Whereas the exaggeratedly stiff poses in Les Jaloux testify to the young artist’s immaturity, the greater fluidity of movement in Harlequin jaloux reveals his greater accomplishment and skill.
Because of the association of Harlequin jaloux with Les Jaloux, and because Les Jaloux was submitted to the Académie in June 1712, most scholar have wrongly dated Harlequin jaloux to 1712. These scholars include Mathey, Adhémar, Macchia and Montagni, and Roland Michel.
The title Harlequin jaloux is taken from the Chedel print but it would be wrong to believe that the engraver or other member of Jullienne’s team had special insight into Watteau’s intentions. If anything, Harlequin’s expression and gesture suggest surprise rather than jealousy.
